samedi 28 juillet 2012

A REAL WORLD PREMIÈRE: THE FIRST ETNZ's AC72 PLANS - July 2012

Lines updated on August 1st, 2012. Please have a look on the same blog.

For the very first time we show you the lines and sail plans of ETNZ's new AC72 christened New-Zealand, launched by the team July 21st, 2012 plus a comparison between this new AC72 an the “old” wingmast already tested by Artemis.

The precision and the quality of the work the team achieved deserves apprieciation.

François Chevalier et Jacques Taglang

The first photos of the wingmast construction of the ETNZ AC72 have made it possible to reconstitute plans of the catamaran and its wing, despite pictures taken with distorting lenses!

Two adjustable flaps in four panels. The structure is thin and dense. Priority is given to the trailing-edge flap that is larger on Artemis or Oracle wings.

In comparison with the initial wing revealed by Artemis, the New-Zealanders have opted for a trailing-edge flap of larger size, divided in four panels instead of six, with more closely-spaced frames - 48 elements instead of 35. The leading edge is straight and, the engineers have obtained some extra wing area not counted by the rule (by lowering the lower part of the second flap below the axis of rotation of the wing).

Artemis is shown with altered hulls of Gitana as we have seen them in Valencia; but this sketch clearly shows the difference of flaps repartition on both wings.

The structure resembles the configuration of the big catamaranAlinghi 5, with two V-shaped aft crossbeams – but more opened – and reinforcement beams around the wing. The central beam presents a regular curve (front view), in contrast to the two cross-beams for Oracle Team USA’s AC72, which appear to be identical to each other as seen during their transport.

The hulls have a slight tilting with very flat bottoms; the structure is largely inspired from the cat Alinghi with reinforcements in the central part.

Considering that ETNZ is building a second new boat, it is still early for drawing final conclusions on these options and we look forward the unveilling and launch of Oracle's cat for the opportunity to further analyze their differences.